After spending years of taking photos, looking at photos and thinking about photography, I wasn't getting the excitement, nor the fulfilment from shooting digital photos. Meanwhile, I always felt the soft whisper of film photography, calling me to rediscover it's delights.
Finally, about a year ago, I've traded my digital kit with a TLR film camera and a dozen of rolls.
Going back to film photography 15 odd years later, I've realized that shooting film stirred a creative joy in me. I've managed to create a simple yet effective scanning contraption that I've named "Shoebox Scanner Mark IV" and I've shot about dozen rolls, happy and carefree.
I've been shooting B&W and at one point I realized that the film stocks are limited and the films that I've managed to find can be exceedingly (sometimes ridiculously) expensive. Was there room for experimentation there?
I've been solely using Caffenol (cheap instant coffee, washing soda, vitamin c and sometimes salt for fast films) for B&W films as this developer is much less harmful than ready made developers and I'm fairly experienced with it. I also like to make my own, things whenever I can.
As an alternative to B&W film, I've thought about using Caffenol with colour film, developing only the B&W layer of the emulsion. I've read about this process but the results I've found were less than desirable. I was still eager though.
Risking a single roll of Fujifilm NPS 160, a film lauded for it's natural tones in it's heyday,
I've shot 12 photos with my trusty Yashica MAT 124G . The roll I exposed was sadly expired in 2005 and I knew that the colours of my rolls were far from perfect with regular C-41 process.
After developing the film and scanning the negatives with my home made scanner, I was pleasantly surprised.
From now on, when I can't find proper B&W film, I'll make sure to use Caffenol with the roll that I can put my hands on, and I'll remember to enjoy the process of experimentation!
